Why the Performance of the Running Back Room Will Be Critical For the Houston Texans in 2026
Taking a look at why the performance of the running back room will have a major role in how the Houston Texans perform in 2026.
Video Transcript
It's not been a clean slate for C.J.
Stroud.
There's been offensive line problems as well.
So to me, C.J.
Stroud's biggest opponent, i- it's not, it's n- it's, it's beating rookie C.J.
Stroud, you know?
His, his biggest opponent is himself, and that's the classic me versus me, and, you know, every good player athlete knows this.
But C.J.
Stroud came into the NFL so polished, and now every season's gonna get compared to that rookie season, and Jayden Daniels might be a victim of this.
Jayden Daniels had a historic rookie season, and, you know, then the injury, and then he followed up It's hard to stay healthy in this league, and it's hard to do it over time and time again.
One thing I wanna caution anyone who watches the game of football, chill out a little bit.
It's so easy to see a guy do something in a game or in a couple weeks and say, "Wow, he's the next thing."
But can you do it over a consistent period of time?
Can you have staying power with it?
And then we don't know that about C.J.
Stroud.
We know he's a good quarterback.
We know he can get the job done in certain moments.
But you saw him against the Steelers in that playoff game, and y- it was 30 to six, but you forget that score was closer than it was.
C.J.
Stroud didn't look good.
The Steelers couldn't capitalize.
But, you know, there's a playoff elephant.
Houston, like, like we just said, beat 'em 30 to six, but then New England beat them 28 to 16.
Stroud threw four interceptions in that divisional round loss.
So like I said, we saw these issues in that first game against the Steelers, but it was masked by that incredible defense, Will Anderson and co.
So with that being said, can C.J.
Stroud protect the football?
Can he shake off what happened in the biggest moments last year, and can he regain his confidence?
I believe he can, because I think this is a, is a good young man who is grounded in his faith, he's grounded in himself, and he's not worried about a good year or bad year.
He's gonna stay pretty even-keeled, and, he knows he's getting some weapons at his disposal again.
So the scar tissue quarterbacks eventually have to turn into experience.
Peyton Manning had, January failures, right?
